I hope all of you had a good time celebrating our Independence Day. Mine was fairly quiet, considering my building is just across the alley from a neighborhood bar. I can watch from my living room windows, the fireworks display from the local amusement park - far enough away so I get the beauty of the fireworks without the noise. Then the more inebriated of the bar patrons set off their fireworks in the middle of the street. A whole lot of noise and very little sparkle. Couldn't get mad while laughing at them, stumbling over themselves. :) Thankfully, nobody got hurt.
For the past few days I have been working on canning the meat in my freezer. The point is to get it into jars before freezer burn finds it. So far I have two cases of pint jars full of either chicken or turkey, and another case of hamburger. There are still 8 lbs. of bacon to can, but because I am not as young as I once was, a day or two of recovery is necessary before continuing on.
Both last summer and this summer have found good deals on strawberries. They are surprisingly tasty for supermarket berries. I have been buying six 1-lb. containers at a time, eating a pound or so fresh and freezing the rest. I still have a large amount of strawberry jam stashed away, so I think I will heat the frozen berries with a little sugar and can them up as strawberry sauce to use as ice cream topping or in other desserts. My mother would can berries this way. One of her favorite ways to use the strawberry sauce was over a slice of angel food cake, topped with whipped cream and the berry sauce. Ah, the memories.
In between canning sessions, I am working on an inventory of my storage, to see exactly what I have and what I need. Some of my kids and grands were here around Mother's Day. They hauled out a truck load of food in jars along with some of the dry goods, like rice. That really helped me as my apartment is small and space is at a premium.
I admit to falling way behind on keeping track of what I have and what I still need. But with prices continuing to rise and a few products out of stock at the store, it is in my best interest to stop procrastinating and get busy.
Keep at it, my friends. Now is not the time to slack off. May God bless you all.
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Vicki~ I know what you mean. No slacking off. We are going through the freezer tomorrow to figure out what to can next. Red
ReplyDeleteRed...I don't know about anyone else, but that little voice in the back of my head keeps nagging at me to keep on. And because things have turned out well when I listen, I will be canning bacon and berries in a couple of days. Some say things are back to normal. 'Fraid not. That ship has sailed!
DeleteI've been cooking up the meat in my freezer as well and freeze drying it. I'm just uncomfortable having that much in the freezer right now.
ReplyDeleteIf things were back to normal, the cost of food would be less. As it is, the buying power of the dollar is less, and so we have to spend more just to feed our families--plus the invading hordes Biden is giving free room and board to.
Jennifer...I get the part about not wanting to have a full freezer just now. I think if I had a solar generator, I might be more apt to leave some of the food in the freezer. But apartments aren't necessarily a place for anything solar - at least mine isn't.
DeleteI don't have a freeze dryer but have been dehydrating - mostly onions and frozen hash browns and some frozen veggies. Whatever works for each of us.
Is there such a thing as canning fatigue? Because sometimes I get weary. But fear not, I keep on canning! Blueberries were on sale last week so I canned two more quarts of blueberry filling; and did some additional apple pie filling to fill the canner. Chicken is going into jars today.
ReplyDeletesbrgirl...Yes. Canning fatigue is a thing. I think we all feel "preparedness burnout" from time to time. There is a lot of hard work involved with what we do. But we slog on because we know our efforts might just be what saves our families down the line.
DeleteMe...when I get to the point where I can't stand seeing another Mason jar, I take a day or two off. Do something else unrelated to preparing. It helps. Hang in there. You done good!!